The Vitalized School eBook

=Conclusion.=—­If the foregoing conclusions
are valid, and to every thoughtful person they must
seem well-nigh axiomatic, then the school has a wide
field of usefulness in the way of inculcating a loftier
and broader conception of patriotism. The teacher
who worthily fills her place in the vitalized school
will give the boys and girls in her care such a conception
of patriotism as will give direction, potency, and
significance to every school activity and lift these
activities out of the realm of drudgery into the realm
of privilege. Her pupils will be made to feel
that what they are doing for themselves, their school,
and their homes, they are doing for the honor and
glory of their country.

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. In what ways and to what extent should patriotism
affect conduct?

2. Indicate methods in which patriotism may be
used as an incentive to excel in the different branches
of study.

3. What branches of study should have for their
sole function to stimulate the growth of patriotism?
Discuss methods and give instances.

4. Distinguish from patriotism each of the following
counterfeits: sectionalism; partisanship; nationalism;
and jingoism. Should teachers try to eradicate
or sublimate these sentiments? How?

5. What should be the attitude of the teacher
of history toward Commodore Decatur’s toast:
“My country, may she always be in the right;
but right or wrong, my country”?

6. Cite recent history to prove that temperance
and sanitation are necessary for the realization of
national victories and the perpetuation of the common
welfare.

7. Is the “Golden Rule” a vital principle
of patriotism? Why?

8. How are culture and refinement related to
patriotism? thrift?

9. Make a list of songs, poems, novels, paintings,
and orations that are characterized by lofty patriotic
sentiments. Name some that are usually regarded
as patriotic but which are tainted with inferior sentiments.

10. Discuss the adaptability of these to the
different periods of youthful development and the
methods whereby their appeal may be made most effective.

CHAPTER IX

WORK AND LIFE

=Tom Sawyer.=—­Tom Sawyer was one of the
most effective teachers that has figured in the pages
of the books; and yet we still regard Mark Twain as
merely the prince of humorists. He was that, of
course, but much more; and some day we shall read
his books in quest of pedagogical wisdom and shall
not be disappointed. It will be recalled that
Tom Sawyer sat on the top of a barrel and munched
apples while his boy companions whitewashed the fence
in his stead. Tom achieved this triumph because
he knew how to emancipate work from the plane of drudgery
and exalt it to the plane of a privilege. Indeed,
it loomed so large as a privilege that the other boys